Hayley Kelly

Name: Hayley Kelly

Gender: Female

Age: 17

Grade: 12th

School: Bayview Secondary School

Hobbies and Interests: Video games, reading, drawing, anime, and music.

Appearance: Hayley has always been a tiny girl- she is 5'0", though she still harbors hope that one day she will grow another inch or two. She weighs 102 pounds, a weight that she works hard to maintain, as she was overweight for most of her childhood and obesity runs in her family. Her skin is exceptionally pale, likely the result of many years spent indoors and in front of screens, and she is completely incapable of tanning. Her eyes are a light brown with a yellowish tint to them, making them appear gold in direct sunlight. Her mouth is small as well, and her lips are generally pink as she is constantly biting them. Her face in general is quite round.

Hayley's hair is naturally a medium-to-light brown, but she began dying it black at age 14 and never allows it to return to its natural color. At any given time her hair is most likely dark brown- the hair dye she uses fades quickly- with lighter brown roots. She wears it shoulder-length in choppy layers, with straight bangs that skim the tops of her eyes.

Hayley refers to her own fashion sense as 'eccentric'- she goes through fashion phases on a regular basis and has been called nearly every teen stereotype in the book as a result. Her current style gets her called a 'hipster' on a regular basis- she has a newfound fascination with slouchy beanies in particular, and she wears a brown one every single day. The one thing that never changes in her fashion shifts is her love of short skirts and dresses. Her favorite outfit includes her beanie, a short, plain and deep purple sundress, brown sheepskin boots, and a pair of cheap goggles that function as sunglasses, but which she never actually wears on her face, preferring to keep them around her neck.

Hayley wears quite a bit of makeup- black eyeliner on both the upper and lower lids, eyeshadow in a color closely matching her outfit (usually purple), mascara, lip gloss, foundation and powder. She keeps this makeup- the eyeliner in particular- on her at all times, and fixes it compulsively. Her face is extremely expressive, and she hates having pictures taken of her when she isn't ready because she tends to make strange faces.

Biography: Hayley was born in St. Paul, Minnesota to a newly married couple, Rachel Dixon and Shane Kelly. She was the perfect child, if a bit unusual- she hated going outside, preferring to stay indoors and read for hours at a time, ripping through the books her parents bought her in record time. Her appetite for knowledge was insatiable from a very young age, and her parents would find her reading almanacs for fun. When Shane Kelly bought himself a Nintendo 64 for Christmas when Hayley was six, she found a new hobby- video games, which Hayley quickly came to love more than anything else. As a direct result of this- along with her childhood distaste for the color pink, dresses, and all other things girly- her best friends in elementary school were all boys. The girls in general disliked her, partially because of the aforementioned boyishness but also because of her reputation as a nerd and a teacher's pet. As a gifted child in a below-average elementary school, Hayley did amazingly well, eventually becoming valedictorian. She was extremely proud of her grades and would cry about anything less than a perfect score, and even as a child she tended to judge others who she considered to be not as smart as her. Overall, though, she was a cheerful (if sometimes bossy) and social little girl.

Things changed for a while when Hayley was seven years old, when her parents got in a major fight. Her memories of that fight are blurry, though two memories are crystal clear- her father threw a newspaper at her mother- which ended up hitting Hayley instead- and her father ran out the door while Hayley ran desperately after him, crying and screaming for her dad to come back. Her parents were separated for a year after that fight, and Hayley spent every other weekend in a cramped apartment with her father. Her parents got back together, though they still argue often. Hayley found out years later that the fight was caused by her father cheating on her mother, and loves to laugh about it to her friends, saying that she inherited her promiscuous streak from her father.

Hayley's family was squarely middle class- her father worked as a freelance tour guide, and her mother worked as a secretary in a travel agent's office- until Hayley was nine, when her brother, Maximillian Kelly, was born. Rachel Dixon was laid off during her pregnancy, leaving the family with two children and one person bringing in income. Money became tight, though luckily the family lived in a two-family house where their landlord also happened to be one of Rachel's best friends, so they did not lose their home. However, the lack of money did not much affect Hayley, as her parents went without so that she could have the very best. She went to camp every summer as a child, where she developed a fascination with both archery and riflery (with BB guns, of course), both of which she proved to be very good at.

Hayley loved being a big sister- at first. As Max got older, it quickly became obvious that he was a different kind of child than Hayley was- he was loud, defiant, and socially awkward, requiring all sorts of extra parental attention and diverting attention from Hayley. As he grew into a toddler, Hayley grew into a preteen, entering junior high. Her junior high school had a high percentage of Asian students, from whom she discovered the joys of anime and manga, as well as an interest in drawing in manga style. However, over the course of that first year of junior high and particularly in the seventh grade, puberty began to take its toll on her. Particularly, she began being teased for her weight- something she had never really noticed before. Hayley became sullen, withdrawn, depressed and often angry, resenting her fellow students for being different than her- and, in her opinion, inferior. She began wearing dark eyeliner, wearing dark clothing- particularly band shirts for the rock bands she started listening to at this time- and most notably, cutting herself. Her habit of wearing armwarmers hid the cutting from her parents for a time, but eventually they noticed and started sending her to therapy.

Things changed again towards the end of eighth grade. At this point Hayley had for the most part alienated her friends, and was alone most of the time. But she'd found one boy, named John, who she quickly fell in love with. He did nothing but tease her, but she adored him regardless, as he was a counterculture-type kid who was nonetheless very well-liked. Eventually the two became friends despite his teasing, and her love of him encouraged her to make some major changes to her life during the summer following that year. She lost 30 pounds, putting her down to her current weight, through a painful and unhealthy crash diet. She bought new, more flattering clothes, including short skirts and shorts. She started dying her hair and wearing more makeup. In short, she quickly turned herself from an object of torment from boys to an object of affection. As a result she met her first boyfriend at a summer camp, though that relationship went nowhere fast, as she found that she wanted to move too fast for him. It was her first taste of sexuality and she found it to her liking. However, she continued to cut herself, mainly because at this point she was still putting up a front- her true feelings had not changed since junior high.

Hayley continued hanging out with John and his friends, though she soon fell out of love with him and settled for his friendship- fortunate, as he came out of the closet soon after. She evolved a new persona to go with her new look- one that was fearless, shameless and intensely sexual, and as she truly embraced this side of her, her junior-high personality faded away. However, the pressures of her new high school were getting the best of her, and she was having panic attacks fairly regularly. Her grades had fallen by the wayside during her depressive slump in junior high, and now, in high school, with the more intense workload, she was falling behind. She continued cutting as a coping mechanism to deal with the stress. She was still highly intelligent, but she had absolutely no interest in her schoolwork- her interests now lay mostly in the social realm- and got by with Cs. As time went on, she learned how to fall under the radar of teachers, and so stopped having panic attacks for the most part (she'll have them on very rare occasions still), though her grades didn't improve.

Over time Hayley became a bit of a harmless delinquent. Her social circle increased- John, who became her best friend, was extremely popular and all his friends became her friends, and she made her own friends amongst the jaded intellectuals of her school. She developed a nicotine addiction, a taste for alcohol (vodka in particular), and a love of marijuana. She also gained a bad reputation- Hayley had many boyfriends (and girlfriends, being of undefined sexuality) and had sexual relationships with many others besides, for no other reason than that she enjoyed them, and she had (and still has) a tendency to be quite manipulative in her relationships, though she makes exceptions for people she thinks are worth it. She always keeps a pack of cigarettes on her, no matter what the situation. By sophomore year, Hayley had stopped cutting, for three reasons- firstly because cigarettes and alcohol replaced cutting as coping mechanisms, secondly because her friends, new and old, discouraged her, and thirdly, simply because she felt that it was a childish habit she needed to grow out of. Despite her shift in personality and habits, she continued to go to therapy.

Hayley retains certain aspects of her childhood personality- she is very social, generally cheerful (and still bossy), and generally prefers boys to girls, seeing girls as superficial and often boring. She also retains that sense of intellectual superiority that keeps her at arms length from most of her peers- even as she makes friends with other teenagers, she generally doesn't see them as real people on her level. But she's also a stereotypical girl in some ways- she's obsessed with her own appearance, extremely emotional (not to mention mercurial), and boy (and sometimes girl) crazy. Despite this, she doesn't see herself as a normal girl, and hates being called 'normal', 'average' or 'boring' above all else. She also curses like a sailor.

Advantages: Hayley is very intelligent, leading to her making good decisions in the game. She generally works well with others, provided that they listen to her. While she has some measure of compassion and sympathy for others playing the game, she sees herself as superior to them, and so self-preservation is her main priority, even when she's part of a group. She is very talented at seducing boys, which is likely to help her. And as she learned in summer camp, she's a naturally good shot.

Disadvantages: Hayley has absolutely nothing going for her physically outside of attractiveness- she is skinny, lazy and unathletic, so if she doesn't get a projectile weapon (or steal one) she is unlikely to do much damage. Her superiority complex rubs many people the wrong way. She cannot work well with others if they don't specifically follow her instructions. Though generally selfish, she puts her very closest friends above her, and would likely sacrifice herself for one of them. And as a very addicted smoker, if she is kept away from cigarettes for more than a few hours, she is liable to become extremely irritable.

Designated Number: Female student no. 103

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Designated Weapon: Falcata

Conclusion: I'm not sure how far G103 will go, but at least she got a pretty bangin' weapon. Then again, she appears to be so lazy that she might not even have the strength or will to use it! I'm going to hope that she gets a few good strikes in before she, inevitably, dies.

'The above biography is as written by Hollyquin. No edits or alterations to the author's original work have been made.'

Evaluations
Kills: Steve Barnes, James Mulzet, Jennifer Romita, Jason Clarke, Andrew Mitchell, Charlene Norris, Janet Binachi

Killed By: Ema Ryan

Collected Weapons: Falcata (assigned weapon, given to Ema Ryan), Taurus PT99 (from James Mulzet)

Allies: Madelyn Prowers, Alexander Campbell, Kyle Portman, Ema Ryan, Jay Holland, Janet Binachi

Enemies: Jonathan Jarocki, James Mulzet, Thea Kairos, Charlene Norris

Mid-game Evaluation:

Post-Game Evaluation:

Memorable Quotes: "In the real world, this is insanity. In Survival of the Fittest...it's playing to win." - Hayley explaining her decision to play the game with her allies Kyle and Ema

Other/Trivia

 * Hayley is essentially a more argumentative and generally bitchy self-insert of her handler Hollyquin.

Threads
Below is a list of threads that contain Hayley, in chronological order.

The Past:
 * After school snack
 * A Foregone Conclusion

Pre-Game:
 * A Quiet Time
 * Always The Better Option
 * Pour Me a Drink
 * Theoretically
 * | "A wretched hive of scum and villainy?" "Worse, high school students."

V4:
 * We're All Guilty Anyways
 * White Knight Nightmare
 * Break Up and Break Down
 * Sorry, Mom. Sorry, God.
 * Going Round In Circles
 * Pleather for Breakfast
 * Make/Break
 * Instinct
 * Without Love, It Cannot Be Seen
 * Sprint for the Finish Line
 * The Guilty Ones
 * The Youngest Was The Most Loved
 * Everyday is like Sunday
 * The Stoner Always Dies
 * Harlequin Girls
 * Paint it Black
 * Confiscate the Crown
 * Who Died and Made You King of Anything?
 * Destroya

Your Thoughts
''Whether you were a fellow handler in SOTF or just an avid reader of the site, we'd like to know what you thought about Hayley Kelly. What did you like, or dislike, about the character? Let us know here!''


 * Here's one I've got a lot to say about. I don't think it's a secret that I wasn't a huge fan of Hayley during V4. Holly  is a pretty good writer, and wrote some good characters, but Hayley rubbed me very wrong. A large part of it, I think, is that Hayley was never a sympathetic character. Her pregame is largely about the mistakes which lead to the initial dissolution of her romantic relationship with Ema, but the whole thing is presented as bad more because Hayley didn't get to have her cake and eat it than because she hurt someone. I guess this is further the case since they very quickly become involved again in the game, in an incident where Hayley is basically over her current boyfriend even before he dies, and pretty much blows him off afterwards.

Hayley begins playing very early. It also starts for no real reason. She tells herself people could be dangerous, but there's this disconnect there because none of them do much dangerous stuff. It's also evident because Hayley's methods of attack are really silly. She decapitates two people, despite being smaller, weaker, and untrained in sword use (beyond, like, a week in fencing). This sets the stage for a lot of my issues with Hayley, because her murders are presented as either awesome or humorous. There are nods to the fact that she's doing bad things, but usually in the form of "She thought she should have felt bad, but she didn't."

And, I mean, the disconnect would be fine if it came off as part of Hayley's character, but it doesn't. The narrative itself is firmly on her side as she does tons of awful stuff, and it treats her as a protagonist, at worst a kind of cranky antihero. This is really problematic since Hayley is basically murdering at random.

It's also an issue because Hayley's cast as a decently smart person. She's not stupid enough to think her method is actually likely to help her win. She's not scared enough for it to be believable as impulse. There are references, repeatedly, to how she basically thinks killing people is fun and cool. The narrative, again, is on her side. It comes off as judgmental when people dare to fight back against the girl who turns up out of nowhere and tries to murder them, like they're in the wrong. Hayley never comes off as caring at all about anyone beyond her immediate circle, and even that crew is pretty much expendable except for Ema.

Then, another issue is, Hayley's relationship with Ema is framed as positive and sweet. It's not. It's really creepy and borders on codependency and mutual abuse. There are some sex scenes that really aren't necessary and again break the flow; why is Hayley, who's normally at least somewhat concerned with safety, willing to get naked with someone with no guards posted, in the open, without any weapons nearby? Well, because they were in (a very long string of) private threads, but in-character it does't make much sense and comes off as unnecessary titillation.

I think that pretty much covers my issues with Hayley as a character. The only other issues I have are mechanics. A lot of what happens around Hayley does so for narrative convenience. She's a big offender in the V4 trend of killers scoring lots of improbable headshots while at the same time never really taking hits in return, even when subjected to better-aimed fire. Her death, also, comes by surprise. She's badly beaten by someone out for revenge, but seems fine on the whole. Then, the next day, she gets into a gunfight with another person she has ties with, wins with minimal injury, and then is suddenly dying from the beating. It's not foreshadowed super well (because she wasn't rolled before), and I feel like a big chance to actually let Hayley fail at something was present in her shootout with Janet, one that wouldn't have really harmed her story or necessitated a change to her actual, final death.

So, yeah, I guess it's pretty clear that Hayley didn't do it for me. Like a lot of V4 characters, she was a flagship who got lots of love and attention and focus, and I really do get pouring one's heart into a character. In this case, though, I feel like the connection was a little too close and that bled through and created a lot of problems with Hayley. - MurderWeasel